Man accused of conspiring with River Birch executive to defraud construction firm to plead guilty

A man accused of conspiring with the embattled River Birch landfill's chief financial officer to defraud more than $1 million from a construction firm is expected to plead guilty in federal court today.

Times-Picayune archiveThe River Birch landfill

Mark J. Titus, who initially pleaded not guilty in July to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, is expected to change his plea to guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors, according to court records.

Titus allegedly conspired with his brother-in-law, Dominick Fazzio, of Slidell, to bilk $1.2 million from Garner Services, a Houston construction management firm where Titus serves as chief operating officer.

Fazzio, who keeps the books for River Birch, used two construction firms he owns to send seven fraudulent invoices to Garner Services from June 2008 through March, according to Fazzio's 19-count indictment.

Titus wore a recording device during two June 3 conversations in which he implored Fazzio to cooperate with prosecutors in an investigation of River Birch in exchange for a reduction in the fraud charges.

In seeking to have Fazzio's indictment dismissed, his attorney, Stephen London, accused prosecutors of trumping up the charges and improperly pressuring Fazzio to switch attorneys to get him to cooperate with an investigation of the Waggaman landfill.

Federal prosecutors have sought to have London removed from the case, saying he has a conflict of interest because River Birch has committed to paying his legal fees to represent Fazzio.

London sent subpoenas to four prosecutors he wants to question about their interactions with Titus and a meeting they had with Titus and Fazzio the night the two recordings were made.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office has asked a judge to quash the subpoenas, calling them a "transparent attempt" to gain insight into the prosecution's case against Fazzio.

Fazzio recently added a second attorney to his defense team -- Jim Cobb, a firebrand attorney who helped secure acquittals in the negligent homicide trial for the owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish, where 35 elderly residents drowned during Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

Fazzio pleaded not guilty Aug. 5 to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, three counts of mail fraud and 14 counts of money laundering. A Nov. 9 hearing has been set for the defense's motion to dismiss the indictment and prosecutors' motion to remove London from the case.

Besides serving as River Birch's chief financial officer, Fazzio has close business ties to River Birch co-owner Fred Heebe, including serving as the registered agent for a company that owns the St. Charles Avenue mansion where Heebe lives.

Former state Wildlife and Fisheries Commissioner Henry Mouton pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy for accepting bribes from an unidentified landfill owner who paid Mouton more than $460,000 to lobby for closure of the rival Old Gentilly Landfill.

While federal prosecutors have identified the landfill owner who paid Mouton only as "co-conspirator A,'' public documents suggest it is Heebe or his stepfather, Jim Ward. Neither has been charged with a crime.

Federal agents also raided River Birch's Gretna offices a year ago as part of an investigation into the landfill's 25-year, $160 million garbage-disposal contract with Jefferson Parish.